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Was Meriwether Lewis Gay?

In recent years, as gays have come out of the closet and into the mainstream of American life, there’s been a big effort by gays to “out” famous Americans of the past. It’s easy to understand why. Gays want people to understand that they’ve made important contributions to American life. And outside of the arts, most of those contributions were made by people who had to hide their homosexuality.

Alexander Hamilton

In his recent biography of Alexander Hamilton, for example, Ron Chernow unearthed long-suppressed love letters between Hamilton and his boyfriend, John Laurens, when they were young men during the Revolution. Later in his life, Hamilton was married and had affairs with both men and women. Chernow’s great biography is not prurient at all, but does show how Hamilton’s constant risk-taking in his sex life was part and parcel of his character, and came to jeopardize everything else he’d worked so hard to achieve.

Abraham Lincoln

Of more dubious value was C.A. Tripp’s The Intimate World of Abraham Lincoln, which makes a lot out of Honest Abe’s close friendship with Joshua Speed, with whom he shared a bed in his circuit rider days; his stormy marriage to Mary Todd; and his fondness for bawdy jokes. Tripp’s book fails to convince because it pulls Lincoln’s actions out of any historical context. Same-sex bed sharing was common on the frontier in those days; so were intense romantic friendships. In those days, sex was almost never talked about, and many people in polite society didn’t even know that gays existed. This actually freed people to have close friendships in a way that we have not had since sex began to come out into the open (around the time of the Depression). Besides, in later years Lincoln often publicly introduced Speed as the man he used to sleep with, which he hardly would have done if he were worried about any scandal.

Some gay historians have also turned their attention to Meriwether Lewis. Unfortunately, very little of Lewis’s personal correspondence has come to light, so the case for Lewis being gay has to be based largely on conjecture and circumstantial evidence. Lewis had certain traits that we think of today as being stereotypically gay. When he worked as Thomas Jefferson’s secretary, he was a well-known dandy who wore all the latest fashions in clothes and hair style — what we might call today a “metrosexual.” Not only that, he was high-strung, temperamental, and loquacious. And one day on the Expedition, when the Corps of Discovery was pulverized by a hail storm, Captain Lewis gathered up some of the hail stones and made punch.

Meriwether Lewis in tippet he received from Cameahwait -- you be the judge.

It’s easy to make fun of this mighty thin gruel. More substantively, Lewis was never married and was notably unsuccessful with women. When he came back from the Expedition, he wrote that he was “determined to get a wife.” But despite being well-built, nice-looking, and a genuine American hero, Lewis repeatedly struck out. Something about his personality sent women screaming in the other direction. After one particularly brutal dumping, in which Lewis went to the woman’s house only to find she had left town in the middle of the night, he wrote glumly, “I never felt less like a hero.” At age 35, he felt doomed to remain a “musty, fusty, rusty old bachelor.”

Lewis’s letters and his Expedition journals reveal a man profoundly uncomfortable with sex. When writing about women back home in Virginia, Lewis writes not of specific girls, but of “fair ones” and “celestial creatures.” When writing about Indian women, Lewis seems positively repulsed, especially by the naked Clatsop women on the Pacific Coast, who exposed their “bubbies” and “battery of Venus” for the world to see.

There’s a great discussion of Lewis’s writings on sex and women in Clay Jenkinson’s monograph The Character of Meriwether Lewis: Completely Metamorphosed in the West. Jenkinson doesn’t think that Lewis was gay, but he does think that Lewis, like his mentor Thomas Jefferson, had some serious issues that prevented him from finding love and being happy with a woman. Others aren’t so sure. Brian Hall based his successful historical novel, I Should Be Extremely Happy In Your Company, on the premise that Lewis was gay and had unrequited love for Clark. Lewis’s suicide provides the capstone to all the conjecture. Many gays have experienced the haunting loneliness that comes with the certain knowledge of social ostracism if their proclivities became known. What better explanation of Lewis’s tragic death do you need?

Well, maybe. It’s certainly possible that Lewis was gay. Lots of people with his personality type and problems are. But there are also a lot of straight men who wear nice clothes, are squirmy around open displays of nudity, and can’t get a girlfriend. Maybe he came on too strong. Maybe no woman could measure up to his mother. Maybe stories about his drinking and carousing got around.

Or maybe Lewis was just clueless. After all, this is the man who wrote when Sacagawea told the story of how she was kidnapped as a young girl, “I cannot discover that she shews any immotion of sorrow in recollecting this even, or of joy in being restored to her native country; if she has enough to eat and a few trinkets to wear I believe she would be perfectly content anywhere.” To say the least, these aren’t the words every woman longs to hear.

Pierre L'Enfant showing Washington the plans for the capital city

If Lewis was gay, his enemies didn’t pick up on it. In the Hamilton biography, Chernow provides examples of times when Hamilton’s detractors wrote snidely that Hamilton “pranced” or otherwise acted “effeminate” or “womanish.” A great website about Pierre L’Enfant, the architect of Washington, D.C., talks about the way George Washington and others reacted with alarm to his homosexuality. It seems impossible that Lewis’s enemies, especially the gossipy and destructive Frederick Bates, would have failed to comment if they found anything gay about Lewis’s behavior.

Unless more papers are found that might shed some light on this topic, all we can do is wonder about this piece of the very complex puzzle that was Meriwether Lewis.

More interesting reading:

Sex in the 1790s (From Bob Arnebeck’s website about early Washington, D.C., which covers many topics, not just those about sex. Check out The General and the Plan and be prepared to spend the afternoon!)

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You can put me in the “Lewis was probably gay” camp. Here’s my evidence (though please excuse replication of other sources).

On March 19, 1806, Lewis writes of the women of the Northwest coast (and this after almost two years out):

“I think the most disgusting sight I have ever beheld is these dirty naked wenches.” As a straight male, I find it hard to believe that I would have felt this way at that point in the journey.

It appears that other members of the expedition disagreed with Lewis’s observations. Earlier, Clark had written: “Pocks & venereal is common amongst them. I saw one man & one woman who appeared to be all in scabs & several men with the venereal their other Disorders and the remides for them I could not lern we divided some ribin between the men of our party to bestow on their favourite Lasses, this plan to save the knives & more valueable articles.” (11/21/1805)

Compare and contrast Lewis’s observations on Indian women to this: When the expedition is preparing to leave Traveler’s Rest — and their Nez Perce guides — to head home, lewis writes, “[I]n the evening the indians run their horses, and we had several foot races betwen the natives and our party with various success. these are a race of hardy strong athletic active men….. Goodrich and McNeal are both very unwell with the pox which they contracted last winter with the Chinnook women….”

At the very least, the juxtaposition of Lewis’s detailed observations of the Nez Perce men with his implied criticism of the Chinnook women looks suspicious. He hasn’t mentioned Goodrich and McNeal’s problems for months, so why does he mention them now, coming so quickly after the “hardy strong athletic active men”? That’s four glowing adjectives, one right after the other. I don’t think that any woman on the trip ever warrants any more than one. Females only get as far as two if they are, in Lewis’s opinion, “dirty naked wenches.”

Clark, who usually copies most of Lewis’s entries word for word, writes only that “[t]he Indians and Some of our men amused themselves in running races on foot as well as with their horses.” No mention of hardy active men or poxy women. I must say, however, that the captains’ entries for this day differ a great deal for each other, much more so than usual; the two men seem to be preparing to separate, as the next day Lewis will go off to explore the Marias while Clark heads toward the Yellowstone.

……

Also note Lewis’s strong feelings for Drouillard. “his safe return has releived me from great anxiety,” writes Lewis on July 15, 1806, after Drouillard has been missing for a number of days. “I had already settled it in my mind that a whitebear had killed him and should have set out tomorrow in surch of him, and if I could not find him to continue my rout to Maria’s river…. I felt so perfectly satisfyed that he had returned in safety that I thought but little of the horses [which Drouillard was unable to find] although they wre seven of the best I had.” Of course, Lewis could just be happy to have his best hunter back. But the party has reached the plains, where one’s hunting acumen is no longer such an issue.

Great comments, Daniel. Without some primary evidence, as in Hamilton’s case, I’m still reluctant to join the “gay” camp. I can’t help but find Frederick Bates to be the dog that didn’t bark in this case. He hated Lewis and defamed him constantly, and it’s hard for me to believe that he wouldn’t have ballyhooed any hint of homosexuality that came his way.

But your points are good that Lewis definitely had some issues with women (as did, for that matter, his mentor Thomas Jefferson). There is a real contrast between Lewis and Clark on the more earthy side of sexuality. Clark is frank (sometimes extremely frank), often seems to get a chuckle out of human relations, and seems to view women as human beings not so different from himself. Lewis uses euphemisms, expresses disgust or indulges in juvenile humor, and refers to the ladies back home as “celestial creatures.”

You are not the first person I’ve talked to who wondered about Lewis and Droulliard. All I can ever think of is the infamous “Those aren’t pillows!” scene from “Planes, Trains, and Automobiles.” Ha!

> it’s hard for me to believe that [Frederick Bates]
> wouldn’t have ballyhooed any hint of homosexuality
> that came his way….

Yes, but two points. First, if Lewis was gay, he was apparently desperate not to appear so (probably even to himself); second, many gay people don’t “appear” gay (whatever “appearing” gay means). So I’m not surprised that Bates didn’t pick up on anything.

A comment about Chernow’s Hamilton (as I just finished it in September)…

He seems to indicate that Hamilton and Laurens (and ultimately, the Marquis de LaFayette as well) were very close and extremely fond of each other. But while Ron indicates there could have more among them than just a “guy-friends” kind of thing, there doesn’t seem to be much direct or factual evidence of such activity. Still, Chernow certainly does open the door for Hamilton’s involvement with men.

It’s quite possible that Hamilton’s childhood in the West Indies probably exposed him, at a very young age, to homosexual activity. He certainly saw a lot more than pre-teen eyes should see.

You mention Hamilton’s relationships with men in later life…something I didn’t get from reading Chernow (though I certainly could have missed it).

Do you have another source or two to which you could point me? If so, I’d be most appreciative.

You have read the Hamilton book much more recently than I — I’ve been looking through it this afternoon and I can’t find what I want to reference about his sexual reputation, nor about the fact that his son heavily expurgated some of his papers. I recall being convinced after reading the book that Hamilton was an active, rather than unrequited, bisexual.

So where did I read this? About the time I read the Hamilton book, I read several books about intimacy in early America as research for my forthcoming Lewis & Clark novel. Maybe it was in one of them. Aaargh! Now this is going to drive me crazy!

I don’t think Lewis was gay. I also don’t feel that he had any romantic feelings for Droulliard either. Of course he was feeling anxiety because of George missing for days. Lewis needed him to perform sign language and he was one of the best hunters. As for having disgust for the coastal Indian women, I would not doubt that he felt they were unclean.
People can go without sex for several years without going bananas. Nope, I don’t think he was gay. I think he had a problem with relationships for whatever reasons. He had a adventuresome spirit, maybe he could not find a wife that wanted to roam like he did. Just because he didn’t write about doing the business with women, that doesn’t mean he didn’t . Lewis was one of the greatest Americans that ever lived. Let’s show some respect.

Hi, Michelle, like you I don’t believe that Lewis had feelings for Droulliard. I just don’t see it in my readings of the journals. I agree that he was just worried about his elite hunter and good friend.

There’s no real evidence that Lewis was gay, other than his record of failed relationships with women — hardly unique to gay men. And I do find myself circling back to Frederick Bates as “the dog that didn’t bark.” Lewis had a number of enemies — it seems incredible that none of them would have sneered, even in private letters, if they thought Lewis was gay.

For the record, though, if a cache of letters is discovered that provides evidence that Lewis was homosexual, he would be just as much of a hero to me as he is without that evidence.

If anyone is interested in reading facts about Lewis’s courtship and sole affection for women, please read my chapter “Lewis in Love,” from the Meriwether Lewis biography published by Prometheus Books in 2009. Several of his letters where he speaks about women are included in this chapter.

You have to remember that Lewis, from 1794 until his death in 1809, resided 90% of the time in wilderness and frontier locations.

As a person who grew up in New York City where every type of persuasion was a common occurrence, there is no doubt in my mind that Lewis was heterosexual.

HI Francis, I read your book To The Ends of the Earth, and LOVED IT! I am a big Meriwether Lewis fan. BIG TIME !
I have been studying his life for over 15 years. I have had the honors of visiting his birth place in Virginia, and went to the Natchez Trace Parkway back in October 2010 when they had the ceremony honoring him. I drove all night to get there.I would drive to the ends of the earth to see the places where he traveled. Last week, I was in Georgia around the area that he lived in when he was a child.
I understand Lewis, real well. I am something of a loner, and I suffered from depression after my husbands died. Both of them. So I know what depression can be like. Three years ago, my daughter and I rented a car and went to many places where the Corp of Discovery went. I drove my daughter BONKERS, talking about Lewis. She told me she gets more history from me than in school. We only got as far as Idaho because we ran out of time and had to head back home. Next year, when my girl graduates from high school, I plan on going again. I never , never get tired of reading the journals. Who knows if Lewis had relations with the Indian women, but like you said, he is still my hero NO MATTER WHAT !!! He’s a baby doll as far as I am concerned. And what a writer he was !!!
I got to meet some of his relatives back in October, what a great day that was for me !! Like a dream come true.
Every time I think I have read every thing about him, something else pops up, and I have something else to put in my scrap book. LOL he was something else. I wish that he could have found the perfect wife. Bless his heart.

Michelle, we LOVED reading your e-mail. Thanks so much — it just means everything to know that you read the book and enjoyed it so much. I would be interested to know what you think about the way Lewis is portrayed in the new book (The Fairest Portion of the Globe). It was fun to write about him when he was younger and full of hell, in happier times.

Mary and I (this is Liz) sort of informally divide up the characters as we write. Mary could readily identify with Lewis as the driven and perfectionistic person. I am sorry to hear about your husbands and the rough time with depression. For about five years there, while we were writing these books, we had a series of family problems that was just awful. I cannot tell you how much Lewis & Clark helped through the rough times, just being there. We couldn’t give up because they wouldn’t have. And I agree, Lewis & Clark can lead you on the best trips, to some of the most wonderfu places in the country, much of it still so pristine.

What a wonderful alternate history it would have been if Lewis had found a great wife. I wish he could have married into the Clark family. To me, that would have been perfect.

HI Liz,
I have been reading some of the reviews of your new book Fairest Portion of the Globe, and I am ready to jump in my car and head to Winston-Salem, N.C. to see if I can get my own copy. All the reviews were great. I would buy a copy of any book that had Lewis in it. lol
I am looking forward to getting my copy, and hiking with my dog Doc, up to my favorite spot at Stone Mountain and just start reading Fairest Portion of the Globe. Nothing makes me any happier than sitting at my sacred spot at Wolf Rock, and reading about Lewis and Clark, and I also noticed that you have written about Clark’s brother , George Rogers Clark. Oh boy , oh boy , oh boy. I loved reading about him too.
Anybody that doesn’t like to hike or read, doesn’t know how to have fun . {smile }
I am looking forward to reading about Lewis in his hell raising days. I’ll bet he was something else .
Thank you for writing the book.
I am also reading the book Meriwether Lewis by Thomas C Danisi and John C. Jackson.
Well got to go get my book and get to reading and hiking .
Sometimes I like to think to think that if Lewis had gotten married, he would have had a son and would have named him William. He would have named a daughter Lucinda or Lucy after his mom. take care. Have a nice week end.

All of these guys are so VERY interesting. I have to force myself to STAY FOCUSED haha Like Joel posted earlier it is so dang easy to get sidetracked off of our original project and spend more time tracking down tidbits than we spend on the actual project LOL Then when i cant find it i have to take a week off LMAO

And to Michelle the traveler what great journeys !! I wish i had the time to take off on road trips like that more often I read an article the other day and saw pictures of Lewis’s burial site memorial (on Findagrave.com) His family is trying to have his body exumed to prove he was murdered and didnt commit suicide. I hope they are successful !!!

For anyone out there that loves thier History I highly recommend the findagrave.com website. I am a volunteer picture taker for the site as are ALOT of other great americans around the globe.. its a GREAT thing they do I was able to locate alot of my ancestors gravesites and the ones for my research. If there is a burial site u are looking for in another state and you cant get there you can put in a request for a volunteer to get a picture of it for you and its posted…

Glad to see that there is still some interest in one of our favorite subjects, Meriwether Lewis. The problem with making blanket statements about Lewis’s sexuality is that there is not much real information out there and the rest is total hearsay. So before we all leap into some bandwagon, think about if you actually have enough documentation to make some sort of ridiculous claim…

On another front, there is a new ML book coming out in January 2012… I wil keep everyone posted…

HI Kandis !
I like Find a Grave also. As a matter of fact, I have left several memorial flowers to Lewis on that site. I am still not tired of him. LOL LOL
Who knows why that woman ran away from him. Maybe he came on too strong to her. I have ran away from some men in my time for coming on too strong. {smile}
I am planning another adventure on the Lewis and Clark trail when my girl graduates. She wants to stay at home this time. LOl
I drove her nuts talking about Lewis. She said she couldn’t take it anymore , so this adventure , I go it alone.
I finally got a copy of Fairest Portion of the Globe. I take it with me when I go hiking in the mountains of N.C. and just enjoy the peace and quiet. What a wonderful book it is !
Lewis cracks me up in the book , I can just see him doing some of the stuff in the book. Even tho Lewis suffered from depression, he had a sense of humor. I like his description of boudin blanc. He was a fantastic writer!
I keep hoping that someone will find more of his letters or journals. You know , it could happen .
The men on the expedition were interesting. I would have loved to have danced with them. lol
I am thankful that today, I am safe in my home and I just pray for the poor souls in Japan that are really going through it right now.
Ok , I have to go to bed, and get up early for another adventure. There is going to be a reenactment of the Battle of Guilford County Courthouse in Greensboro tomorrow. I am all excited ! LOL
I know , I need to get a live. I have raised 3 kids. It’s time to have fun. Later Ya’ll, and if you ain’t got a copy of Fairest Portion of the Globe , go get one ! Peace .

I agree Thomas but i dont really think anyone was making blanket accusations to cause trouble. Opinions nothing more i am sure !!

we all have our opinions based on the whatever documentation we have seen. Its all conspiracy theorys because none of us were there… Heck his own family doesnt even know what happened or why… And we will probably never know for sure. Whatever the cause i think we can all agree he was a HERO but he did have issues with women whatver those might have been.

I hope his family is legally able to exume his body to get thier answers about how he died.

I’ve read Thomas Danisi’s book — and by the way this is a MUST READ if you are a Meriwether Lewis fan. I’m excited to hear a new book is forthcoming.

Although I have not read her book I believe Stephanie Tubbs (Stephen Ambrose’s daughter) introduces the theory that Lewis had Aspergers. I really think this theory fits his personality and behaviour much better than other theories. It easily explains his lack of success with women and the lack of emotionality in his journals. I could go on and on — so many of his actions and interests are so classically Aspergers. I also might add I’m very familiar with Aspergers. My son was diagnosed at 7. There are definitely glimmers of this in my husband and father-in-law.

Aspergers (mild autism) is absolutely a natural personality, or brain type if you will. Think of the engineering or computer department at any university. They are full of Aspies. Often brilliant or extremely accomplished in certain areas (non-social) — but completely clueless when it comes to “people skills”.

Meriwether Lewis’ disgust at the “naked women” would not have been unusual for people in his time period. Think of the gentlemanly southern culture of his upbringing. IF memory serves, I think he was speaking of the Chinook indians who wore no clothing from the waist down and whose mode of sitting was squatting on the ground. That must have been quite a sight — particularly taken in the context of his culture.

Moreover, Meriwether Lewis’ admitted passion and attempted courtship of Lettitia Breckinridge should put to rest the gay theories. That failed courtship or attempted courtship reminds me of the nerd (Aspie) who decides he’s going to the prom and goes off and asks the most beautiful girl he knows without any concept that he hasn’t a prayer.

It had not dawned on me that Lewis’ writings (passions and details) reveal that he very likely suffered from characteristics we associate today with Asperger’s syndrome. That could very well help explain his intriguing reactions to and interactions with the opposite gender while being strongly heterosexual (and yet giving off some appearances that others might attribute to one of today’s “metrosexuals” due to the struggles of appropriate human associations). I think, Shari, that this is a highly reasonable interpretation in today’s terminology and understanding of some of the character we know of Capt. Lewis. Thanks!

This was very interesting to read. I was watching a documentary on the National Geographic channel on Lewis & Clark. When inviting Clark to be his co-captain, Lewis received a reply stating something to the effect – with my enduring heart I gladly accept. It made me wonder so I googled – Was Lewis & Clark gay? – and came to this site. Thanks : )

I think gays have a perfect right to claim as one of their own, the heroes of the past who we have documentary proof of homosexuality for, and are likewise perfectly within their rights to ignore those villains of the past (or present) who we know were (or are) gay (John Wayne Gacy anyone?), but to claim someone as gay, simply because, A.) one wants as many of histories heroes on ones “team” as one can (however tenuously) grab at and, B.) said hero did not possess the social skills to burn a path through the female population like Tommy Lee on crank, seems desperate and really, just sad.

Did Meriwether Lewis dress nicely? Well he should have, he came from one of Americas most prominent 18th century aristocratic families. Was he “high strung and temperamental”? Rather subjective claims I should think, but even if true, would be very typical for the class from which he sprang. Was he “loquacious”? Since when does that make anyone gay? Only opinionated, well spoken and informed men are gay now? What more feeble justifications for claiming gayness can there be?

Meriwether Lewis expressed a romantic interest in women and never expressed an interest in sexual relations with men, those are just the facts, however inconvenient they might be to anyone, therefore the evidence (for those who care about such things) tilts in favor of his being straight. Period. Meriwether Lewis suffered from a severe case of mental illness of the “hearing voices and responding out loud to them” type and this clearly put women off. Gay’s are not the only persons susceptible to suicide, and certainly not the majority of suicides. But the mentally ill are, and in this instance at least, “gaydar” is not evidence of the most rigorous type for anything but wishful thinking, particularly 200 years (and counting) after the facts.

Cousin Lewis: I appreciate your candor but Lewis did not suffer from any mental illness. Historians have repeatedly claimed that scenario but they have not really shown how that is possible. You should read my new book, “Uncovering the Trurth about Meriwether Lewis,” and find out what was really ailing him, complete with detailed endnotes.

How is it possible that someone could suffer from mental illness? That’s your question? Psychologists and psychiatrists have been trying to answer that question since at least Ziggy Freud. No one is obliged to prove mental illness exists, or to prove M. Lewis might have been as susceptible to it as any one, just to prove he wasn’t gay. That burden of proof rests squarely upon the shoulders of the “He was gay” crowd.

Okay, so let’s review the article in brief: there is NO evidence, hearsay or otherwise, that Meriwether Lewis was gay, all the unsubstantiated speculation and 200 years after the fact, and “gaydar” notwithstanding and some hearsay evidence on the part of eye witnesses (among whom was no less a star witness than Thos. Jefferson himself), that he was mentally ill. But you’re going with gay. Cool. I’m not convinced. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. Thus far I’ve been presented with no evidence, extraordinary or otherwise, for his being gay.

I too like Meriwether Lewis and I also believe that the success of the Corps of Discovery was owed not to just William Clark but to all the individuals that participated in the Corps. That’s what we call teamwork at its finest. Even in my book, I credit several people “my tiny legion,” with helping me to achieve a great and informational book.

Thomas Jefferson did not say he was mentally ill. He said that he suffered from sensible depressions of mind, that’s 18th century talk for something that does not equate to depression today. This is a complex subject that cannot be boiled down to, “Yes, Lewis was depressed.” In all of the writings of ML, never once does he show any hint of depression. On the contrary, he was energetic, resourceful, and chatty. Believe me I have looked. There’s another reason why he may have had to what Jefferson observed, a chronic illness that was incurable. Anybody here suffer from migraines and no doctor knows why you get them? No medicine seems to help. That would be cause for depression, but that doesn’t mean that the person is clinically depressed. We need to expand our knowledge of Lewis in order to understand him in the context of his time.

After Meriwether’s “great adventure” and coming home………….in those days it would have been a great let down to go back to the daily tasks after the most exciting adventure in ones life……….he also no longer had his great friend at his side. He will always be a hero to me.

I too am late to this discussion. Of course we will never know Lewis’ sexuality without new evidence from heretofore unseen personal correspondence, etc. But I will tell you as a gay man who suffered for years with his sexuality, that Lewis was gay and in love with Clark. Add to the thin evidence from the journals discussed above, Lewis complete unraveling at the end of the journey as he was forced to leave Clark who married and settled down. When I read of Lewis life after the trip ended it literally struck me like a bolt of lightening. All too familiar story of gay man falling in love with a straight man. Add to that that this was in the early 19th century where Lewis could get no support or even someone who could explain to Lewis his feeling.

I am certain and without doubt that Lewis was gay. To anyone who has had unrequited love for his best buddy, it’s obvious.

I think it’s important to remember, when making statement about the sexuality of historical figures (Hamilton, Lincoln, Lewis) is that the term “homosexual” was not invented until the middle of the nineteenth century, almost 50 years after Lewis died. In other words, there was no concept of sexual orientation in his day, and therefore human sexuality was seem as something much more fluid. There was no concept of being “gay” or “straight” in Lewis’s time–I read this article on same sex friendship in nineteenth century America that put this eloquently by saying something to the effect of, “Having sex with a man was something you did, not something you were.” Lewis would never have thought of himself as a gay man because the concept didn’t exist. He also wouldn’t have thought of himself as straight. He could have engaged in sexual or romantic relationships (and same sex friendship for men and women was in general much more romantic in Lewis’s time than it is in ours) with men or women or both without having some sort of identity crisis as is frequent today due to the strict labels society wants to place on human sexuality. We can’t impose our modern ideas of sexuality onto historical figures.

Could Lewis have been primarily attracted to men? Maybe, but we really have absolutely no way of knowing that. On the flip side, just because Clark (or any man for that matter) married doesn’t mean that he was “straight.” Relationships were different two hundred years ago! So in my opinion, Lewis wasn’t gay OR straight–he wasn’t anything, because the labels didn’t exist in his time. He just lived his life and loved whoever he wanted, and we’ll never really know the extent of that love. (Sorry if that was repetitive–it’s so complicated! This is why more people should study queer theory–we’d be living in a very different America if that were the case).

BEING A LEWIS I CAN ANSWER YOUR QUESTION WITH EASE. HE WAS A NOTHINGNESS. WE HAVE THE ABILITY TO CROSS THE COUNTRY BUT INSIST LIVING OUR LIFE’S BY OUR SELF. SO WHEN WE MARRY WE CHOOSE VERY CAREFULLY, OF LIKE KIND IS OUR ONLY WAY TO SURVIVE. ALL HAVE THE DARKNESS, BUT IN THE DARKNESS WE DO OUR BEST WORK. J

Do you know what pox and venereal looks like on a naked body? Some men will do anything with anyone. I’m glad Meriwether didn’t. Some men are actually above that; unfortunately, some men are just bad with women and undesirable. As for his “seeming” suicide, this is under debate still and can’t really be used to validate his sexuality.

I will address what you have written one thing at a time that is when I stop laughing.All the Lewis men were Dandy’s. They loved clothes. My father had a Cadillac confer table his traveling companion standard size black poodle named Pierre that wore sunglasses and a barite. Your comment is absurd . Every time a Lewis goes somewhere we dress to the nines and I can tell you this my father brother uncle can not beat the woman off. So if you are judging M because he was a dandy then every Lewis in American is gay. A typical Lewis trait is to be a Drama king or queen on the other hand that is what makes us successful. That is why there are so many attorneys, judges, and governors in this family.We have no patience for the other people I have been married 25 years what makes it a success my husband lets me go and do whatever quest I am on today. Wonder lust. I am a terrible spouse as all of the Lewis’s I know are. William Lewis married M mother for her money she married him for his status his brothers Charles and Andrew were extraordinary M. MS mother was a Quaker and homely. Of like kind and we are firm about this. And this would have dictated marrying a Quaker, probably a cousin settling down and running his plantation he just couldn’t do it.

Good thing they are still not around because to question their sexuality Drouillard would shoot you, Hamilton would duel you, Lewis would fool you and Lincoln would no doubt with his wisdom and wit rule you.

You are right absolutely, Before reading or writing or even trying to comment on M you have to look at his family. Merriwether was kin to Jefferson and they say one of the finest outdoorsman of his time. But we have a CRAZY GENE. Thomas Jefferson said I see the darkness in M as in the past with William and I fear we will see it in the future generations, he was right. I am not sure how it works but in the darkness is when our finest work is done. But the thing we fear the most is confinment, by job, marriage, or a Plantation he never wanted. I think it sent him spinning and without Clark or someone who understood him he just couldn’t come back. But for the sake of argument if he wore pink high heals and panties, he settled Wilkes Georgia, took the great Discovery trip. Would you not have loved being him? I wish I could write as elegantly as you do. J

As a Meriwether, I must say that some, born into this world are simply sensitive souls and the world is better for it. To classify those as “gay” is an injustice when the “observer’s” opinion is inconclusive and pure guesswork. My sadness is because his life was taken from him at such a young age – be it by another’s hand or his own. Let’s go with the things that can be proven and are as authentic as possible rather than rumor and innuendo.

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